


share your address

by iwantthemtostay



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 19:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18288671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwantthemtostay/pseuds/iwantthemtostay
Summary: Darling, you might think it's too soon,But I can't get you out of my head nowOne night in October 2016, and one evening three days later.





	share your address

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peacefulboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefulboo/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! May your day be as special as you are! Hopefully I'll have that update for Out of the Woods ready for next year's ;)
> 
> Thank you to carmen_sandiego for betaing and to Ben Platt and his new album for inspiring this fic at the perfect moment.

It’s busier in Molly Bloom’s than for a usual Friday night in October and it sets Tessa a little on edge as she makes her way past the throng of people at the door. She knows she’ll be fine once she gets over to Alex and Mitch. This had been where they used to hang out back at college and it’s making her feel a little old being back here after a few years. All these college kids looks so young to her now. After a deep breath she sidesteps a woman in a cute sparkly silver top, somehow managing to walk right into a dark-haired guy in the process. She’s about to stumble when he puts out his hands and steadies her, letting go as soon as he’s ascertained that she’s balanced again. It surprises her that she’s a little disappointed his touch doesn’t linger.

“I’m so sorry!” he says, pushing his hair back with his hand. He has really good hair, not too long and not too short, with a slight curl at the front. And he has even nicer hazel eyes. Thankfully, he looks to be about her own age so she’s fairly confident she’s not checking out an undergrad.

“It was my fault,” Tessa reminds him. She wants to say something else, but what is there to say really? He might be heading out and not want to talk to her at all.

“Oh no, I wasn’t looking where I was going properly. If I had been I would definitely have noticed _you_.” His face goes very red. “You,” he repeats, no emphasis this time, “you as in anyone really. It’s very important to look where you’re going and not to bump into anyone.”

Tessa is fighting the urge to laugh. He seems so embarrassed by having inadvertently come out with a line. “That is important,” she agrees. “I remind the kids I work with about that all the time.” Playgrounds are dangerous places.

It’s loud in the bar so she can’t quite make out what he’s muttering, but it sounds a little like ‘works with kids!’ He sticks his hands in his pockets. “Well, I don’t want to delay you any longer than I already have.” Tessa really wouldn’t mind being delayed by him. “I, uh, I’m just going out to check on my brother so I might see you around later.”

“Sure.” She smiles, and finds that all the tension leaves her body when he smiles back in return. “I’m Tessa.”

“Scott,” he replies. “I’m Scott.”

She’s still smiling after he goes out the door and she makes her way to the booth where Alex and Mitch are sitting, pints of Guinness in front of each of them.

“Tessa!” Alex squeals, standing up to hug her. “I love your dress!” It’s emerald green, one her mom had surprised her with saying that it was the perfect colour to bring out her eyes. She’s usually right about these things.

“It’s so good to see you.” Tessa squeezes her friend close, they’d got to spend a lot of time over the summer together at both of their cottages, but since Alex has gone back to law school it’s been all Facetime calls and Facebook messages, often at odd hours of the day or night.

She hugs Mitch next, she’s seen him a little more recently when she took the editorial team for the school’s newspaper on a visit to the _London Free Press_ where he works as a sports journalist. Mitch is the ideal best friend’s boyfriend – kind, caring, and always makes an effort. And she’s finally got used to the PDA so when they all sit back down and Mitch puts his arm around Alex it doesn’t give her any of the pangs she used to experience thinking about how she was still single.

“How was work?” Alex asks.

“Good! It can be a little hard to keep their interest on Fridays but we talked about some upcoming activities they’re excited about.” It was a lot less dramatic than last Friday when Jason Brown had done Russian splits in the playground and hit Max Aaron in the face with his foot by accident. Way too much blood and way too many tears.

Mitch strokes Alex’s shoulder. “Can I get you a drink, Tessa? I’m going to get another for Alex.”

“Thanks, I’ll have a Jameson and ginger ale, please.” It is an Irish bar after all.

Alex scoots a little closer to her when he goes. “I’m sorry it’s not just the two of us, but he hasn’t been able to drive up to see me the past few weekends because he’s been so busy with work and…”

Tessa squeezes her hand. “There’s no need to apologise. Mitch is great, and this way we don’t have to go up to the bar as often. It’s win-win.”

Alex beams. “Good. I’ve really missed you both.”

“It’s okay to say that you’ve missed him a little more, I won’t mind.” She knows how hard an adjustment it’s been for them to go from living together and sharing a lot of classes in college to being over one hundred miles apart.

“Enough about me. Who was that cute guy you were talking to earlier?!”

Alex has the observant and detail-oriented part of being a lawyer down already, clearly. “Oh, I just bumped into him. Literally. He was really nice about it.”

Alex just opens her eyes wide and lifts up her glass to finish off the remains of her drink. Tessa knows she’s smirking behind the rim. “Maybe you’ll see him later.”

“Maybe.” Tessa’s trying to avoid the urge to look around the bar and check if Scott has come back in. She really would like to see him again.

Alex offloads about her schedule and all the assignments she has due until Mitch returns with their drinks. He sighs after taking a sip, “I hate to admit it, but now that I’ve been to Ireland I have to agree with what Alex says about Guinness actually tasting better there. I can’t make fun of her for being pretentious anymore.”

“It was never very convincing. When have I ever been pretentious?” Tessa can’t remember any moments, or at least not since they were fifteen and made a big deal of ordering the French editions of _Vogue_ and _Elle_ only to end up mainly looking at the pictures.

Mitch grins. “That time you asked me to write you a 5000-word MLA referenced essay on the flaws in _Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life_.”

“That wasn’t being pretentious! That was a perfectly normal request!” Alex protests.

“A valid one, too,” Tessa adds in support.

“Thank you!” Alex turns to Mitch. “And you now also have to agree that this isn’t really an authentic Irish pub.”

They bicker about that for a little bit while Tessa just watches on, amused. She can’t really speak to whether it’s authentic or not with her only connections to Ireland being that time she went to see Riverdance, the writers she’d read at college (including one chapter of the book featuring the character the pub is named for, with that one chapter being enough to do her for life), and more recently watching _Derry Girls_ , half the time with subtitles.

Her drink is nearly empty and she’s excused herself to text her brother back to confirm she can watch her niece tomorrow night when she hears someone shouting Mitch’s name. When she looks back up Mitch is hugging someone, and when he steps back she sees that someone is Scott.

“Tessa,” he breathes out, voice and face so warm and friendly. He says her name like he’s said it a thousand times before.

“Hi Scott.” She grins back, feeling her cheeks start to heat up. She can’t look at Alex right now, but she just knows she’s going to be much too pleased about this.

“You two know each other?” Mitch asks, looking between them.

“We’re old friends,” Scott jokes. Tessa laughs a little louder than normal and Alex audibly snorts.

Mitch looks a little bemused by it all. “Scott and I used to play hockey together,” he explains. He says something else then, maybe about figure skating, but she can’t hear it over the noise of the music and all the people talking. She also might be more concentrating on Scott’s arms now that his flannel shirt has been rolled up rather than anything Mitch is saying, but that’s not something she’s about to divulge.

Scott’s head turns away from hers and over towards the door. She sees a man who looks quite similar to him hold out his arms. “Sorry, that’s my brother, my other brother. He’s home from Calgary. I’ll just…” He points towards him and then rushes over. His brother throws his arms around Scott and lifts him up. It’s a lovely sight, and she thinks she can hear Scott’s laugh from where she’s sitting.

When she looks back at Alex and Mitch they’re both grinning. She swears they resemble each other now after seven years together. “Can’t wait until you move in together in six months,” Alex teases.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Tessa stands up, smoothing out any wrinkles in her dress. “Do you want another drink?”

Mitch offers to go instead but Alex pulls him down. “Just water, thanks. But you should definitely get one. And go over to that corner of the bar.” She very helpfully points to where Scott is standing with his brother and some other guys.

Tessa rolls her eyes at her, but it’s a little bit possible that she’d offered to go to the bar in the hopes of talking to him again. Maybe a lot possible. When she gets there though he looks so engrossed and happy talking to his family and friends that it feels like it would be rude to intrude. So she just pays for the drinks and carries them back down to the table. Thankfully Alex doesn’t say anything else about it when Tessa returns, just drags her up to dance when they’re both finished.

She’d met Alex at dance back when they were little, they’d done ballet, tap and modern together. This is different obviously, here on the packed dance floor with the music so loud that it vibrates through her rather than in one of the quiet mirrored rooms they used to have classes in, or onstage for shows, but it still gives her that thrill. She misses dancing if she goes too long without it, feels like her joints are stiffening and her body is less hers.

It’s maybe thirty minutes before she sees him again, she knows her hair is coming out of its bun and that her face is probably too shiny, but she doesn’t really care. She knows she looks good when she dances, and she’s got to a point in her life where she can say that and not feel bad about it. Maybe there are other places she still needs to figure that out, but not here when she’s moving.

Scott sidles over to her and she turns to face him, still swaying slightly to the beat. Alex not so subtly drifts away.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi.” His hair’s a little rumpled now and he has two shirt buttons undone. “May I?”

He puts his hands hands out and she places them on her waist. “Please.”

The music changes from the fast, upbeat songs the band has been favouring for the last while to a slowed down cover of ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’

He ducks his head down next to hers so that she can hear him. “Is this okay?”

She leans the side of her head against his cheek and nods, circling her arms around his neck and moving in closer.

Scott can dance. This is evident within the first few seconds of their moving together. He picks up on the nuances in the music and there’s a confidence in how he uses his body and a carefulness in the way he touches hers. He’s not too serious either, laughing with her when she gets tangled under his arm when they attempt a spin. And he doesn’t try to direct her, it’s a give and take. She likes that, and she likes how his hand feels against her back and the way he’s looking at her - like he never wants to stop.

And then the music ends and his gorgeous face is _right there_ , so it’s only natural that she should lean in to kiss him. Only logical, if you will. It’s very much a first kiss with their noses bumping against one another and that sweet hesitation when his tongue is on her lower lip before she welcomes it into her mouth, but it’s somehow familiar too. Or if not familiar, maybe expected? Like this is the kiss she’s been waiting for. He tastes like beer and he kisses the same way he dances - nuanced and confident and careful, always with that give and take. It maybe gets a little less careful as she presses her body tighter against his, wanting to hold him closer. They’re still dancing, or swaying maybe, not that she could tell anyone what song is playing. All she really cares about right now is Scott, and kissing Scott, and if that ends maybe getting Scott’s number. That seems like a solid plan.

When his lips leave hers it’s like a little loss, and she knows he feels it too from the way he’s frowning. His brother is tapping his shoulder, or maybe it just looks like his brother, the other brother he’d mentioned earlier perhaps? Either way, he’s clearly asking Scott to go do something with him. He smiles apologetically at Tessa and claps Scott on the back.

Scott’s forehead falls against her. “Ah fuck,” he says. “Sorry! I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, it’s okay, it’s what I was thinking too.”

He grins, then gives her the briefest of kisses. “My brothers want me to do shots. Some kind of family bonding. I don’t… I don’t really want to stop kissing you.”

“We can do that later. You should spend time with your brothers. Find me later?”

“Yes.” He kisses her again before leaving the dance floor, a slight frown on his face.

When she makes her way back to the booth another couple have joined them, two blonde women who both grin at Tessa. Their grins aren’t as large, or as smug, as the ones on Alex and Mitch’s faces.

Alex pushes an (obnoxiously large) glass of water towards her. “Thought you might need this. You seemed very thirsty.”

“That’s a terrible joke and I hate you.”

Her friend pulls her in for a hug and Tessa rests her head on her shoulder, her face slightly sore from all the smiling. “Uh huh, I completely believe you. Hope you forgive me by the time you’re sending out wedding invitations.”

“Shush. You’re so silly.” She’s only just met him! Her body tenses a little thinking about how she’d just kissed a stranger in a bar, that’s something she used to do in college, she thought she’d left those days behind. She kisses people in private now. But he hadn’t felt like a stranger.

Alex rubs her arm. “You had fun, right?” She can always tell when Tessa is overthinking.

“Yeah.” She had a lot of fun.

“And he was nice?”

“Yes. More than nice.” Tessa reaches for the glass of water and takes a long sip.

“Good,” Alex says approvingly. “I like the sound of more than nice.”

Mitch leans in a little closer to them. “He’s a really good guy. Soft lips too.” Both Tessa and Alex swivel their heads around to him. He shrugs, relaxed as ever. “It was spin the bottle, I wasn’t going to defy the bottle.”

Tessa thinks about this. “It’s true. He does have soft lips.” Mitch clinks his glass against hers.

“I’m feeling kind of left out now,” Alex says. “But I don’t really have any plans to kiss anyone other than Mitch so I guess I’ll just have to struggle on without knowing what it feels like to have Scott Moir’s lips on mine.”

“Moir?” Tessa asks. It’s a good name.

“Yeah” Mitch answers. “His family are from Ilderton, I’m not sure if he still lives out there.”

Tessa likes Ilderton, she had a few skating lessons there when she was little. She moves back a bit, explaining to Alex that it’s because she’s too warm.

“Do you want to go out to the patio?” Alex is already fishing for their coats that they’ve bundled up into the corner of the booth.

Tessa nods, standing up and taking her coat. She could do with some fresh air. It’s not too cold when they get outside, not with her coat on anyway. The tables are full so she and Alex lean against the end of one, Mitch standing in front of them. He tells them stories from the paper, funny ones, not worries about the death of print. He’s in the middle of an impression of his boss doing an impression of William Nylander when someone puts a hand on his shoulder.

A wave of excitement passes through her body when she sees that it’s Scott. His hair is even more rumpled and there’s another button undone on his shirt. Tessa’s only complaint about that is that she wasn’t the one to do the deed. He doesn’t notice her at first, says, “Mitch, where is…” and then the brightest smile appears on his face. “Tessa!”

“You found me.” She’s pretty sure that her smile is as wide as his.

“I missed you,” he says, now wearing a very serious expression. She thinks he might have had more than one shot.

Alex taps Tessa’s hand and then links her arm through Mitch’s and walks over to the other side of the patio, still in Tessa’s line of sight.

“I like your friends,” Scott announces. “We should all be friends.”

“You already are friends with Mitch,” Tessa reminds him.

He looks at her like she’s said said something quite brilliant. “You’re absolutely right. I am!”

Tessa giggles. She’s not sure she’s ever liked someone this much so soon after meeting them.

Scott folds his arms over his chest. “We should talk.” Her back straightens on reflex. “I think we should just dive right into things. I really like you, and I think you might like me, so I figure we should go straight to the dating part. And then the moving in together part. I have a very nice apartment and I’m restoring a house out in Ilderton. And there’s your place! We have real estate options.”

She laughs, this loud one that ripples through her body, all light and bright. She wonders if she should maybe be a little freaked out by this, but it’s just very endearing. There’s a moment of discomfort when she asks herself if she’s so okay with this conversation just because Scott is very handsome and a fantastic kisser, that maybe she’d be less kind about someone not as attractive saying all this to her, some slides she’d pored over for a social psychology test popping up in her head. But she doesn’t think it’s that. Scott feels very safe, and there’s a security about the way he looks at her.

“I think you might be moving a little fast,” she says gently.

He doesn’t look offended at all. “I accept that. But I do have strong points to make. I started coming up with them after the… after the third tequila shot.” That makes a lot of sense, though she’s a tad surprised by how much sense _he’s_ making, at least in terms of coherency if not his actual argument. He clears his throat. “I’m quite a good cook. I could make you breakfast in bed.”

This is a definite selling point. Tessa can cook fine, she just doesn’t particularly enjoy it unless she’s already familiar with the recipe. The thought crosses her mind that she might like cooking with Scott, and then she has to rein herself in. He’s drunk and cute and rambling, this isn’t actually going to happen. Not the moving in together part anyway. Not anytime soon.

“I’m also very tidy. My roommate from college, Patrick, you know Patrick!”

She shakes her head. “No, Scott. I don’t know Patrick, we just met a few hours ago, remember?”

“I did kind of forget that to be perfectly honest with you, Tess.” His brows furrow. “I did agree with you about this being fast already, didn’t I?” She nods. “I don’t want to pressure you, I just want to introduce the idea.” Another laugh bubbles up inside her. “Anyway, Patrick is great, you’ll really like him.” His eyes widen like he’s had a bright idea. “We could call him! He can vouch for how tidy I am? My side of the room was always the neat one when we shared in first year!” He starts digging in his pockets and then produces his phone.

Tessa reaches out and clasps his hands in hers. “Maybe let’s not call Patrick.”

“Good idea. You’re very smart. And you work with kids! And are a great dancer! And probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Your eyes are like… KAPOW!” He mimes an explosion with his hands up beside his own eyes.

She’s a little dazed by the most beautiful woman compliment. “It might be the dress, it brings out the green. My mom got it for me.” She’s going to have to thank her at brunch on Sunday.

“Moms love me,” Scott says, cocky all of a sudden. “Your mom and I will be best friends.”

She gets hit with an image of her mom helping Scott pick out household items for the move, her mom talking about how nice it is that Tessa has such a sweet boyfriend. This is ridiculous, she didn’t know who he was before she left her house this evening.

The cockiness is replaced by wistfulness. “You’re so pretty. I could look at you all day.”

The sincerity in his tone invites some of her own. “I could look at you all day, too.”

He looks amazed, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly. “I could look at you all night. While you slept.” Panic fills his eyes. “That was really creepy! Not in a creepy way! In a watching over you way? Wait, that’s still really fucking creepy. I just meant… I’d like to look at you all the time. In a normal way. I mightn’t see you at night! You might not want to share a room and I would be totally fine with that.”

“Totally fine?” she teases.

“Well,” now his ears are reddening, “I might prefer to share a room, but it’s whatever makes you comfortable.”

She leans towards him, lowering her voice. “So, in this scenario we’re moving in together but we’re not sleeping together?”

His whole face is red. “I mean, I would not be opposed to that at all, in fact I think it sounds pretty awesome, but…” he matches the volume she’s speaking at, “I thought saying that might be a little forward.”

She laughs again and he joins in which just makes her laugh even more. “Oh, that’s what would be forward? Not the moving in together part?”

“You may have a point there,” he concedes. “I’m going to regret this tomorrow, aren’t I?”

“Don’t,” she says. “I’m having a really great time.”

“Okay.” Their faces are still very close together and it takes just an incline of his head to have their lips almost touching. “Can I kiss you again?”

She joins their lips, rising up off the table so that she can be nearer to him. There are a few drunken cheers but she just ignores them, focusing on how they move so well together like this just as they had when they were dancing. It’s smoother this time, no stops and starts. She hadn’t known that tequila could taste like the future and not the past. Her hand is in his soft hair and his strong arms are wrapped around her and she really thinks that she could keep doing this for a very long time indeed. Moving in together might not be the craziest idea after all, they could do this all the time then. And more.

When they stop kissing and another brother is at his shoulder she has to do her best not to glare at him. It wouldn’t be the best first impression.

“I’m truly sorry to put an end to this for tonight, but we need to be getting home. Family party tomorrow,” he explains, turning his head to her. “Maybe we’ll see you at the next one.”

“The community centre in Ilderton isn’t too far from the house I’m renovating, the one I said we could live in,” Scott says.

“Okay, definitely time to get you home.” His brother drags him towards the exit. “Nice meeting you, Tessa! Hope he hasn’t scared you off!”

“We shall continue this discussion soon!” Scott calls out.

She just laughs, a little delighted that Scott had told his brother her name. It’s as she’s walking over to Alex and Mitch that she realises that they never actually swapped numbers, they’d just talked about moving in together. She tries to find the Moirs, but there are too many people, and they’re likely gone by now anyway.

She’s standing outside the bar when Alex and Mitch find her. “Tess! Is everything okay?” Alex asks, breathing heavily like she’s been running.

“Yeah, I just… I didn’t get his number.” She’s not sure why there’s a sting behind her eyes. It’s not the end of the world. “Do you have it, Mitch?”

“I don’t, sorry. I’m friends with him on Facebook, I don’t think he uses it much, but he’s still on there.”

She doesn’t much like the idea of finding him on Facebook, but it will have to do. It feels unfair that it’s disappointment she’s feeling in the Uber home after such a great night, so she remembers the best parts as she carefully hangs up her dress and removes her makeup. How sweet Scott was, how attractive and how thoughtful. What it had felt like when they’d danced and when they’d kissed. She falls asleep smiling.

She doesn’t smile so much the following day. She finds him on Facebook easily enough, getting irritated with how secure his profile is because she can’t look through any of his photos (never mind that hers is on just as tight a lockdown and not even under Tessa Virtue so that the kids at school can’t find her. Though he hadn’t even got her surname). She hovers over the ‘Add Friend’ button each and every time she checks out his profile, but never clicks. What if he had just been drunk and doesn’t actually want to talk to her again? And if he really liked her that much, wouldn’t he have talked to Mitch and found out her full name or asked for her number? She can’t seem to locate the surety she had when she talked to him out here in the cold light of day, maybe it had only ever existed under the harsh light of the dance floor or the twinkling lights of the patio.

She’d like to find it again, would love to see that smile and hear that laugh and kiss those lips. But she’s a little scared about trying to make that happen. Maybe she’ll wait a few days, build up her courage. Or maybe she’ll hear from him first.

 

_Three days later_

She doesn’t hear from him, and she doesn’t quite work up the courage to contact him herself. She frets about it some more on Sunday and is grateful for work on Monday to get the whole thing out of her head. There’s nothing quite like a class of seven year olds to keep the mind occupied.

She considers buying some ice-cream on the way home, but instead decides to go skating. Her class are going on a trip at the end of the week and she’s a little rusty and doesn’t want to fall down on top of them. There’s maybe a little pride behind this decision too, she knows that a good few of her students have done or are doing CanSkate or are playing hockey or moved up to more challenging figure skating lessons. Kaetlyn Osmond has what sounds like an impressive array of jumps and it seems like Jason and Max are doing very well too when they’re not inducing or obtaining injuries by practising their skills off ice. Tessa’s all about teaching the kids about how to pick themselves up and learn from their mistakes, but she doesn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of them.

When she googles the local ice rinks it turns out that the arena in Ilderton is the only one with recreational ice time right now. It’s silly, but it feels a little like fate is pulling her there so she switches to the Facebook app and presses that stupid ‘Add Friend’ button before putting her phone down and setting off.

She tries not to feel disappointed or anxious when there’s been no response by the time she arrives. He’s probably at work, wherever that might be or whatever he might do. She should really tried to find that out.

The lady who helps her with her rental skates is so warm and welcoming and Tessa is a little regretful her class are going to Medway rather than the rink out here. There’s a really nice homely atmosphere.

When she goes over to the ice a girl and boy are just stepping off. The girl calls, “Bye Coach Scott!” and Tessa looks out onto the rink just as the man standing there raises his head.

It’s him. He’s here.

And he doesn’t look happy to see her. He’s frowning as he skates over and it makes her nervous. “I’m not stalking you!” she blurts out. “I didn’t know you worked here!”

Now he seems more confused. “Of course you’re not. If either one of was stalker material, it’s clearly me. I’ve been half-expecting to receive a restraining order since Friday night.”

“Why would you be receiving a restraining order?”

He blinks. “I… Didn’t I ask you to move in with me? After I just met you? Shit, I haven’t apologised for that yet! I’m really sorry!”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Scott.” She plays with the buttons on her cardigan. “I had a great time with you.” If he’s been thinking he made a mess of things that could explain why he hasn’t tried to contact her. He probably thought she wouldn’t want to hear from him.

“You did?” He sounds genuinely surprised, but there’s a hopeful smile on his face now. “My brothers said you seemed to be happy to talk to me but… I said some creepy things.” He bites his lip. “Didn’t I say something about watching you sleep?! I must have made you really uncomfortable!”

Tessa laughs. “That part was a little weird, but I knew you meant well. You made it very clear that you didn’t actually expect me to move in with you, you just had some ideas to outline.”

He pushes his hair back off his face. “Okay, that’s not so bad. So, what brings you out here?”

“I’m a teacher and my class are going skating later this week. I wanted to get in some practice before then.”

“I remember you mentioning that you work with kids. How long has it been since you skated?”

“A few years now. I don’t want to fall down in front of them, and I don’t want to be completely shown up by a group of seven year olds, no matter how much I like them. I’m pretty competitive,” she says in a confiding tone.

Scott laughs. “Me too. Do you want some company out on the ice?”

“I’d love that.” She steps out onto the rink. She feels braver now that he’s here in front of her. “I was hoping I’d get to see you again. I finally added you on Facebook today, I’d been thinking about it all weekend.”

“You have?”

“I have,” she confirms.

“I was thinking about you all weekend, but I didn’t think you’d want to speak to me again. Not after you really thought about it all.”

“Well, I do.” She moves forward a little. “If you want we could forget about Friday and pretend this is our first time meeting.” It seems like a nice place to meet someone for the first time.

He shakes his head. “I… I don’t think I want to act like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to forget it. Not the good parts anyway.”

“They were all good parts except for us not exchanging numbers. I liked talking to you, and dancing with you, and…” She doesn’t know why she’s embarrassed all of a sudden. She knows he liked that part too.

“Kissing me?” he asks, voice soft.

“Yes,” she agrees, loving how it sounds when he says it “That was my favourite.”

The smile he gives her then is worthy of being immortalised. “Mine too.”

“Maybe we should do that again then.” She sticks out her hand. “Do you want to skate with me first?”

“I’d love to,” he tells her as he takes her hand. “I’d love to do all of that, Tessa.”

They talk some more as they make their way around the rink, about the kids she teaches and the ones he coaches, about their families and their friends, about where they might grab dinner after this. She almost forgets she’s skating, it feels just as easy as walking or dancing. And it feels so natural to be here with him, like it’s the place she’s meant to be.

Somehow it feels like coming home. And when they go out for pizza and he burns his mouth from eating too fast and his face lights up when she offers to kiss it better, she finds herself thinking that the idea of moving in together, after a sensible period of time of course, looks quite appealing after all.


End file.
